Vikas Prakash Joshi, a sub-editor with The Hindu, Bangalore, has won the first place in the Centre for International Private Enterprise's (CIPE) fourth annual essay writing competition for 2011.
The competition, which is open to people in the age group of 18-30 all over the world, had close to 500 entries in all. The essays are to be written only in English.
Mr. Joshi's essay, The world's youngest democracy: Empowering India's youth, won the first place in the “Democratic transitions” category. ‘Corruption' and ‘Economically Sustainable Development' were the other two categories.
The parameters for Mr. Joshi's category were: How can youth play a significant role in newly-formed or emerging democracies? Do existing broad-based civil society groups or parties provide youth with opportunities to participate? How youth might in your country form their own groups and voice their concerns and needs as future leaders?
Mr. Joshi's 2,986-word-essay (the word limit was 3000 words) was written over one-and-half months and dealt with the role of youth in democracy –— in civil society groups and political parties.
“My essay is centred around the aftermath of the Anna Hazare agitation, as it was written around the time the campaign was at its peak. I expressed my view that for the time being it is fine. But the role of youth in politics is limited. The youngsters who are in politics are there because they are some politician's son or daughter. The youth wings of parties, on the other hand, have only one goal — to enhance vote banks,” Mr. Joshi said.
The essay also deals with the pertinent question of the youth from the lower economic strata, as India's population of youngsters is not just of the educated youth. “These people have very basic concerns,” he said.
The essay finds a place on the CIPE website.
